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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22926727">Weakness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarCrossedRebel/pseuds/StarCrossedRebel'>StarCrossedRebel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:34:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,297</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22926727</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarCrossedRebel/pseuds/StarCrossedRebel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is just a short, stand alone story that takes place after the events of the Last Jedi. Ren disappears on a mission without telling Hux anything about it. Ren reappears a month later, and Hux is pissed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Weakness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The hour was late, even by Hux’s standards, but sleep was the last thing on his mind. His thoughts circled around a single person—a single, irritating, damnable person who happened to be missing. The irony wasn’t lost on Hux. A year ago, he would’ve been overjoyed if Ren had suddenly disappeared. The man was a nuisance on the best of days and a walking disaster on all the rest. He was a detriment in every sense of the world. If it weren’t for his foolishness, Snoke would have still been alive and the Resistance might not have gotten away. But here they were, months later, still on the hunt for the Resistance and in the middle of a war. And where was Ren, the cause of all of this mess? Hux wished he knew, because he’d quite like to strangle the man.<br/>
Hux shifted restlessly in his armchair, recrossing his legs. There was a glass of whiskey in his hand that he had poured nearly two hours ago. It remained untouched. The ice had long since melted and the glass was wet and cold with condensation. When he’d first gotten off shift, he’d resolved to drink himself to sleep, but he couldn’t seem to find the motivation to actually raise the glass to his lips. Now it simply served as something to hold as he waited. The amber liquid glowed softly in the low light of the electric fireplace.<br/>
Millicent wandered into the living room, her green eyes wide and bright. She meowed curiously at Hux, wondering why he wasn’t in bed yet. Hux set his glass down on the floor and wiggled his fingers for Millie to come over. She trotted up to him and jumped into his lap, purring. Hux scratched her ears idly and asked her, “Where has that stupid man gone to?” Millie made a chirping noise and nipped at Hux’s fingers affectionately.<br/>
Hux managed a tiny smile. “Let’s go and make some coffee then,” he told Millie. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.”<br/>
Scooping up Millie in his arms, Hux stood up and made his way to his kitchenette. He set Millie down on the floor and she watched him as he puttered about. He worked slowly and methodically as he prepared the beans and pressed the hot water into coffee. The familiar aroma filled the space, deep and rich and comforting. Hux pulled his favorite mug from the cupboard and poured himself a generous amount. Unlike Ren, who added copious amounts of cream and sugar, Hux took his coffee black. The bitter taste helped to wake him up in the mornings and on long shifts.<br/>
Hux shuffled back into the living room with his mug. Instead of returning to his armchair, he pressed a special button on his datapad that was wirelessly connected to his living room. The side panels that lined the largest wall of his living room began to break apart and recede into themselves, revealing a window and the vastness of space beyond it. Hux took a sip of his coffee as he watched.<br/>
The Finalizer was drifting through a nebula. Entrenched in the inky blackness was a spider web of deep blue and magenta. Stars winked like dew drops in the morning sun. In moments like this, when it was just Hux and the eternal beauty of space, he found himself replaying a particular memory about Ren, which he considered to be a weakness, but in the privacy of his own mind he allowed it. Every once in a while, at least.<br/>
His memory of Ren was like a stone in his pocket, one his hands liked to frequently retrieve and fiddle with. His fingers caught on the same edges every time; fragments of that night, vivid snapshots. The peculiar details of Ren’s face. His paradoxal brown eyes, fluctuating between light and dark. His nose, which always bumped into Hux’s. His lips, which were always so soft and so clumsy. Ren didn’t fuck like a clumsy person though. He fucked like he meant it, like he wanted it. Even though he was horridly clueless the first time they’d had sex, Ren still made Hux come hard.<br/>
They both said it was a mistake afterwards, of course, and it was a mistake, but that didn’t stop them from indulging in each other’s bodies far more often than they should have. Hux tried to look at it from a cost-benefit analysis perspective: although it was a relatively risky endeavor, it was a good way to manage stress. Not that it mattered now. Ren had disappeared on one of his ridiculous Jedi missions. He’d given no more than ten minutes of notice and absolutely no details about where he was going or why. All Hux received was a shoddy message on his data pad that said: “Be back in a month or so.”<br/>
Well, it had been a month. A month and two days, to be exact, and there was still no Ren and still now way to manage his stress.<br/>
Hux took a sip of his coffee and pressed his lips together as he looked out the window, combing the stars for movement. Everything was so maddeningly calm and still. In times like this he understood Ren’s impulse to break something. He’d just have to wait for Ren to get back so he could break his nose.<br/>
Millie brushed against Hux’s legs and looked up at him. Hux looked into her wide eyes. “There’s really no point to watch for him,” he told her. He’d linked his datapad to the shuttle bay’s roster. The moment Ren’s ship made contact with the Finalzer, he would know. He wasn’t going to find any signs of Ren in the stars.<br/>
Even still, Hux lowered himself to the ground and sat before the window with his mug of coffee. Millie sat beside him, her tail twitching as she caught sight of a shooting star. </p><p>-------------------------------------------</p><p>	A high pitched beeping pulled Hux out of his revere. Millie, who had fallen asleep curled up next to him, lifted her head in annoyance. Hux scrambled to his feet, almost knocking his empty coffee mug over. He rushed over to the coffee table and swiped his datapad off of it, quickly opening the message and reading it twice over, his heart hammering in his chest.<br/>
Hux dropped his datapad on the cushion of the armchair and went straight to his closet, pulling out a pair of boots that he shoved his feet into, not even bothering with the laces. He was out of the door in a matter of seconds, marching down the brightly lit hallways of the Finalizer. His footsteps sounded particularly menacing in the quiet of the night shift. The few souls sorry enough to still be up looked shocked by the sight of Hux. Hux wasn’t patient enough to stop and school them on their etiquette—there was a bigger idiot in need of a stern talking to.<br/>
As Hux drew nearer to the shuttle bay, both his pace and his heart began to pick up speed. It’d been over a month since Hux had seen Ren, let alone talked to him. What was he going to say? ‘How dare you leave me like that?’ Hux shuddered at the thought of sounding like a damsel in distress.<br/>
Since it was the night shift, the hanger door to the shuttle bay was open. Hux walked beneath the massive archway, glaring into the harsh white light of the bay. He squinted his eyes as he peered around the cavern, looking for that idiot’s sleek, black beast of a ship. But instead of spotting the ship, Hux spotted the man himself, a lone black figure amongst the navy blue of the officers and the white of the stormtroopers. Ren didn’t see Hux at the same time. He was still blissfully unaware of Hux’s simmering presence, his attention focused on a tear in his precious robes.<br/>
Hux decided to stay put and wait for Ren to run into him. He had nearly a full minute to appreciate how filthy and tired Ren looked before Ren ran into him with a shocked expression.<br/>
Ren tilted his head forward slightly in a greeting. “Hux,” he said cautiously.<br/>
“Supreme Leader,” Hux sneered. “How kind of you to join us again.”<br/>
Ren’s eyes darted around the perimeter of their circle, as if to see if anyone else noticed their little randevu. “It’s good to be back,” he said.<br/>
“Not if I can help it,” Hux snapped.<br/>
Ren looked down at his boots, as if ashamed. “I thought you might be angry,” he said.<br/>
Hux bit the inside of his cheek so as not to lose his temper and shout something obscene. Letting out a slow, steady breath that did nothing to mitigate his anger, Hux asked, “Why would be angry? Because you disappeared without any notice or details about your whereabouts? Because you were gone for over a month without any communication whatsoever? Because you’re the Supreme Leader, but for some reason I have to do both of our jobs?”<br/>
Ren wasn’t good at putting words together on the best of days, and he wasn’t good at it now. He just stood there, looking exhausted on his feet. Hux could see the gears turning in his head, trying to figure out what to say to make Hux back down. Hux wasn’t in the mood for hearing his excuses.<br/>
“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Hux said. “I want a full debriefing.”<br/>
Ren nodded his head. “I’ll meet with you first thing tomorrow.”<br/>
“We’ll meet right now,” Hux said. “No time like the present to explain your idiotic behavior.”<br/>
Ren looked Hux over, a questionable look on his face. “Are you sure?” he asked. “You don’t seem very ‘debriefing ready.’”<br/>
Hux’s heart stuttered in his chest. He looked down at what he was wearing and had to stop himself from screaming a long string of curses. He’d forgotten that he had changed into sleepwear at the end of his shift. While he had a pair of army issued black boots on, the rest of him was decidedly not army issued. He was wearing a pair of loose grey sweatpants and a tight, grey shirt. He’d been so distracted by Ren’s return that he hadn’t remembered to change into something more presentable.<br/>
Hux looked at Ren darkly, fully prepared to blame him for everything. “You’d better have a damned good explanation,” he warned.<br/>
Ren avoided Hux’s eyes. “Define ‘damned good,’” he said.<br/>
Hux felt the corner of his eye twitch. </p><p>---------------------------------------------------</p><p>	They entered Hux’s quarters in silence. Millie, who had curled up on the armchair, perked up. When she saw Ren, she jumped down and happily waddled up to him. She rubbed her head affectionately against his pant leg and purred. Ren awkwardly bent down to pet her head.<br/>
“She’s getting fat,” Ren said.<br/>
Hux didn’t appreciate Ren’s attempt at a joke. “Don’t insult Millicent,” he said, shooing her away from Ren. “She’s got more brains than you.”<br/>
Ren straightened himself back up and sighed. “I knew you were going to be mad,” he said, “but I didn’t think you’d be this mad.”<br/>
Hux opened his mouth, but Ren didn’t care about his response. Instead, he passed Hux in the entryway and made his own way to Hux’s living room, collapsing into one of two armchairs. He stooped over and began to untie his boots, pulling them off with a groan and a thud as he tossed them aside.<br/>
Hux followed Ren into the living room, peeved. He didn’t feel like sitting, so he stood a few feet away, staring at Ren with his arms crossed. When Ren didn’t seem like he was going to talk on his own, Hux said, “Well—where did you go?”<br/>
Ren remained sitting with his back hunched and his forearms resting on his legs. He looked even more tired in the low light of the room, the shadows more pronounced beneath his eyes. “Baludor,” he said simply.<br/>
Hux’s eyebrows pinched together. “For what possible reason?” he asked.<br/>
Ren shrugged his shoulders. “I had a vision,” he said. “A voice told me to go to Baludor and wait for what I needed.”<br/>
“And what did you need?” Hux asked.<br/>
Ren shrugged his shoulders again. “I don’t know,” he said. “I didn’t find anything.”<br/>
Hux felt like throwing his hands up in exasperation. “So let me get this straight,” he said. “You had a dream of a voice that told you to go to some backwater, jungle planet and to wait for a thing you didn’t even know you were looking for?”<br/>
“The Force works in mysterious ways,” Ren said. “It is not for me to judge the way it reveals information to me.”<br/>
Hux looked at the floor and pushed a hand through his hair, shaking his head slightly. “Did you ever consider the possibility that you just dreamt the voice and went all the way to Baludor for nothing?”<br/>
“It wasn’t for nothing,” Ren said. “There’s something there. I know there is. I can feel it.”<br/>
“But you didn’t find it,” Hux said, throwing his hand down. “By definition, that is a waste of time.”<br/>
Ren stared into the distance, looking beyond Hux and into the flames of the electric fireplace. Hux could see the flames reflected in the pits of Ren’s brown eyes. “I’ll just have to go back,” he said.<br/>
“Oh great,” Hux said sarcastically. “Yeah, sure, why the hell not, just disappear for another month. See if I care.”<br/>
Ren raised his eyebrows at Hux. “Do you care?” he asked.<br/>
Hux flattened his mouth in distaste. He needed to be more careful with what words he chose to use. “No, I don’t,” he lied. “When will you be leaving?”<br/>
Ren deliberated on an answer. “About a week or so,” he said. “I need to make some repairs on my ship and resupply.”<br/>
Hux ignored the disappointment he felt at Ren’s answer. “Perfect,” he said. “That gives you plenty of time to catch up on paperwork then.”<br/>
Ren looked at Hux. He didn’t speak for a few moments, clearly thinking about what he wanted to say, and if he should say it at all. When he finally spoke, he was slow and hesitant. “You don’t have to be worried.”<br/>
“Worried about what?” Hux snapped. He was having a hard time keeping the acidity out of his tone.<br/>
“Me,” Ren said, the word falling from his mouth like a stone.<br/>
Hux flared his nostrils, tamping down on the impulse to laugh meanly. “You are the last thing in this universe that I am worried about,” he said. “I have an entire fleet of ships to oversee and a war to win. Don’t flatter yourself.”<br/>
Ren looked at the floor and didn’t say anything. After a few seconds of letting Hux’s words sink in, Ren picked up his boots and got to his feet. “I need some rest,” he said. He began moving towards the door.<br/>
Hux stepped in front of Ren. “We aren’t finished, though.”<br/>
“We can reconvene in the morning.”<br/>
Hux wrinkled his nose. “I have a full schedule tomorrow. Unlike some, I actually have to work for a living.”<br/>
“Then we can meet after you’re off shift.”<br/>
“And cut into what little free time I have?” Hux said. “No thank you. You’ve inconvenienced me enough as it is.”<br/>
“Hux,” Ren said, his name sounding like an expletive. “Why are you being difficult? You look exhausted. Go to bed. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”<br/>
Ren pushed passed Hux. Hux turned to watch him go, his heart thumping rather wildly inside his chest for reasons he didn’t care to admit, not even to himself. It was a weakness. He really had missed Ren, and he really had worried about the man. Now that he was back, he wasn’t ready to let go of him yet.<br/>
“At least shower before you leave,” Hux said. “You smell like you rolled in bantha shit.”<br/>
Ren bent over in the entryway to pull his boots on. “I think I can do that in my personal chambers,” he said. “If I remember correctly, I do have a private bathroom.”<br/>
Hux bit his lip. “I had the water turned off to your chambers.”<br/>
“What?” Ren said, standing up.<br/>
Hux raised his chin. “I said that I had the water to your chambers turned off.”<br/>
Ren furrowed his eyebrows. “Why would you do that?” he asked, finally starting to sound annoyed.<br/>
“Because you just up and disappeared!” Hux said. “I wasn’t going to waste precious resources on a room that wasn’t being occupied.”<br/>
Ren sighed and closed his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll call maintenance in the morning and shower then.”<br/>
“That’s disgusting,” Hux said. “You look like you haven’t showered in a month.”<br/>
“That’s because I haven’t showered in a month!” Ren said.<br/>
“So shower here!” Hux said.<br/>
Switching to a mocking tone, Ren said, “I wouldn’t want to be an ‘inconvenience.’”<br/>
Hux scoffed. “That’d be a first.”<br/>
Ren looked unamused. Both his eyes and mouth went flat. “Goodnight, Hux,” he said. He turned and opened the front door.<br/>
Hux felt his control snap. Before he realized what he was doing, he was moving towards Ren and slamming the door closed. Ren jumped back from the suddenness of Hux’s appearance. “Just go take a fucking shower!” Hux said, nearly shouting.<br/>
Ren looked offended. “Is this how you talk to your Supreme Leader?” he asked.<br/>
“Just go fucking shower,” Hux said again, “before I get really angry.”<br/>
“I think it’s too late for that,” Ren said. “You were looking for a fight the moment you saw me.”<br/>
“You’re damn right I was,” Hux said. “Maybe if you hadn’t acted like a selfish prick, we wouldn’t be here right now.”<br/>
Ren looked genuinely perturbed. “How was I being selfish?”<br/>
“Just go shower!” Hux said. His emotions were starting to get the better of him. The words coming out of his mouth weren’t as calculated as he would have liked them to be.<br/>
Ren furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Hux’s face, which Hux was fairly certain was a bright shade of red. “You’re the most confusing man I’ve ever met,” he said. “You’re angry at me, but you won’t let me leave.”<br/>
Hux hated how unstable he felt, like he was shaking apart atom by atom. He was angry at Ren, yes, but he also wanted Ren to stay. Not for any nefarious purpose, but just to be close. And Hux hated that about himself and there was no way he was going to verbalize his desires. “Just go shower,” he said, now barely above a whisper.<br/>
Ren threw his hands up in the air, exasperated by Hux’s antics. “Fine,” he said, “have it your way.” He stomped passed Hux and through the living room, making his way to the bathroom.<br/>
Hux watched him go. “And make it fast!” he called.<br/>
“Fuck you,” Ren said without looking back.<br/>
“Fuck you!” Hux snapped back.<br/>
Ren disappeared around the corner of the hallway. His exit was followed by the sound of the bathroom door slamming shut. Hux marched after Ren, pressing his ear against the door. He could hear Ren muttering to himself on the other side before he was drowned out by the drum of the shower. Hux shouted through the door: “Don’t get the floor all wet!”<br/>
“Go away!” Ren shouted back.<br/>
“It’s my bathroom!”<br/>
Ren ignored Hux. Hux crossed his arms and leaned against the door, resolved to stay. He felt the pouches beneath his eyes as he listened to Ren putter about.<br/>
“I know you’re still out there!”<br/>
“Shut up and shower!” Hux said. Exhaustion was starting to drag his eyes closed. He let them rest as he waited for Ren, who still wasn’t in the shower yet. It sounded like he was rummaging through Hux’s cupboards. Hux wondered what he was searching for until he heard the sound of his electric trimmers. The droning buzz lasted for several long minutes. When he turned the tool off, there was a stretch of silence, just the spray of the water. Then Ren broke the peace when he hissed and cursed.<br/>
Hux furrowed his brow. “What are you doing in there?” he asked.<br/>
“Go away,” Ren said in a strained voice. He sucked in a sharp breath and cursed again.<br/>
Hux pushed the bathroom door open. Ren was standing before the mirror, in the process of undressing. His tunic was halfway peeled off his body, allowing Hux to see his blood caked skin. He let out a gasp before he could stop himself. “What did you do to yourself?” he asked, slightly horrified by the sight.<br/>
“Nothing,” Ren said with a grimace, continuing to peel his tunic off. The blood had acted like a sort of glue, sticking the tunic to Ren’s skin. Flakes of dried blood fell to the floor.<br/>
“Were you mauled by a fucking tiger?”<br/>
Ren locked his jaw and closed his eyes. With a quick, sharp movement, he ripped his tunic off the rest of the way and dropped it to the floor. He let out a slow breath between his teeth and braced his arms against the rim of the sink. Fresh blood seeped from his chest, but there was too much of it for Hux to determine the source or cause of the injury.<br/>
“You need to go to the med bay,” Hux said.<br/>
“I’m fine,” Ren said.<br/>
“Obviously not,” Hux said. “You’re bleeding all over my floor.”<br/>
Ren pushed off the sink and rolled his shoulders back. Rivulets of blood slid down his chest and to his abdomen. He wiped it off carelessly with a hand towel Hux had left out. The white cloth came away dark red. “It’s just a surface wound,” Ren said.<br/>
Hux made a face. He knew there was no way he was going to get Ren to go to the med bay. Getting Ren to visit a doctor was like trying to herd a bantha. But he couldn’t leave Ren to his own devices, either. At the rate he was going, he was going to die of blood loss. And if blood loss didn’t get to him, infection would.<br/>
“Just wait here a minute,” Hux said. He went into his bedroom and pulled the first aid kit from out of under his bed. Bringing it back to the bathroom, Hux set it on the counter and popped the tin lid open. He sorted through the contents until he found what he was looking for.<br/>
“What is that?” Ren asked.<br/>
“Just be quiet and come here,” Hux said. Without waiting for permission, he grabbed Ren’s arm and jabbed the antiseptic needle into it.<br/>
“Kark, Hux!” Ren shouted.<br/>
“Don’t be such a baby,” Hux said. He pulled the injector out and watched as a bead of blood swelled from the puncture hole.<br/>
“At least give me a little warning next time,” Ren growled.<br/>
Hux pulled out a needle and thread and handed it to Ren. “Clean yourself up,” he said.<br/>
Ren glared at Hux and snatched the needle and thread out of his hands. Wetting the already dirty hand towel in the sink, Ren scrubbed the blood off his chest, allowing Hux a better look at the wound. It extended from his left shoulder to his right pectoral in a remarkably straight line.<br/>
“What happened to you?” Hux asked again.<br/>
Ren looked grumpy as he threaded the needle. “I ran into mercenaries.”<br/>
Hux’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Mercenaries on Baludor?” he said. “What were they doing there?”<br/>
“I’d ask them,” Ren said, “but I killed them all.”<br/>
“Before you found out why they were there?” Hux asked. “That wasn’t very smart of you.”<br/>
“They ambushed me,” Ren said. “What would you have liked me to do? Invite them in for tea and have a nice little chat with them?”<br/>
“I just can't’ believe somebody got the jump on you,” Hux said.<br/>
Ren made a grumbling noise and then let out a hiss as he pushed the needle into his skin and out. Hux watched, pretending to be unaffected by the glimpses of pain that flitted across Ren’s face.<br/>
“Why don’t you go lay down or something?” Ren said without looking up from his work. “You look like you’re about ready to pass out.”<br/>
“I’m just tired,” Hux said.<br/>
“So go lay down,” Ren said. “I don’t need to be monitored.”<br/>
“That’s debatable,” Hux said.<br/>
Ren pressed his lips together and didn't say anything. They were both quiet for a while, listening to the water from the shower head beat down on the floor of the tub. It was almost melodic, save for the occasional hiss of pain that escaped Ren. Steam began to curl around the ceiling and fog up the mirror. The room was getting warmer. Hux began to relax a little bit, the tension in his chest easing ever so slightly. He watched Ren work. His fingers were slick with blood and were shaking minutely, but he was still slow and careful with his work, creating perfect stitches. Hux wondered how many times he’d had to stitch himself up over the years. Given his reckless behavior, Hux guessed it was a high number.<br/>
When Ren was finished with the last stitch, he snapped the thread off from the spool and tied it off. He inspected his stitches with a critical eye. Satisfied, he used the wet rag to wipe off the excess blood and then began to take his pants off. Hux ignored the flutter in his chest and looked away as Ren finished undressing. Only Ren wouldn’t think twice about casually undressing in front of someone else.<br/>
“Don’t look so scandalized,” Ren said. “You’ve seen me naked plenty of times.”<br/>
“That doesn’t mean you have to throw decency out the window all together,” Hux said.<br/>
Ren rolled his eyes and opened the door to the shower. Hux chanced a glance at the man’s backside, frowning when he saw the deep purple bruising lininging the back of one of his thighs. Clearly someone had hit him from behind, intending to incapacitate him. His view, however, was interrupted as Ren stepped into the shower and closed the opaque door behind him.<br/>
Hux settled himself against the counter and waited as Ren showered. He occupied himself by practicing one of his recent speeches in his head, though he was so tired he was having a hard time remembering the words, or what they even meant. It was far easier for Hux’s mind to dwell over images of Ren’s nakedness. </p><p>--------------------------------------</p><p>A few minutes later, Ren turned off the water and pushed the shower door open. He stood before Hux like some sort of ancient god, his body perfectly sculpted and marred with battle scars and half obscured by steam. Water dripped from every inch of his skin.<br/>
“Do you have a towel?” Ren asked.<br/>
Hux hyper focused his attention on finding Ren a towel, doing his best not to look at the naken man. He opened the cabinet beneath the sink and handed Ren a plush white towel. It’d probably be ruined by the time he was done with it.<br/>
Ren took the towel and began to roughly run it over his hair. Water droplets scattered around him. When he pulled the towel off, his hair was a tangled mess. He then bent over and began wiping down the rest of his body, starting at his legs and working his way up to his chest, which he patted down gingerly. The skin there was bright red and inflamed.<br/>
“You should take something for the pain,” Hux said.<br/>
“Only those weak with the Force take pain meds,” Ren said.<br/>
Hux felt like rolling his eyes, but his eyes were so sore that he didn’t. Instead, he said, “Suite yourself,” and dropped the subject.<br/>
Ren hung his towel over the banister, now completely dry. He looked at his pile of discarded clothes on the floor, but before he could even think about putting them back on, Hux snatched them from up off the floor and said, “I’ll get you something to wear.” He slipped out of the bathroom before Ren could say anything and searched through his closet for something big enough for Ren, settling on an old pair of stretched out sweatpants and a baggy shirt. He went back to the bathroom and handed them to Ren. Ren took them without a word and quickly pulled the sweatpants on. The shirt, despite how baggy it was on Hux, was extremely tight on Ren, but it was better than nothing.<br/>
When he was fully clothed, Ren looked at himself in the mirror and then looked at Hux. “Are you still mad?” he asked.<br/>
“I’m always mad at you,” Hux said, his eyes beginning to droop from exhaustion.<br/>
“I suppose that’s true,” Ren said, more to himself than to Hux. He looked at his bare feet, considering.<br/>
Whatever earlier rage that had filled Hux, it was all gone now. He felt drained and ready for bed. He knew sleep would come if he let it, now that Ren was back. He was about to say that they should get on with it when Ren looked up from his feet and stared at Hux with a peculiar expression.<br/>
“What?” Hux asked.<br/>
Ren half shrugged his shoulders. “I missed you,” he said.<br/>
Hux felt his face grow hot. No matter how tired he was, there was always energy to be embarrassed. “I think you must have gotten your head kicked in,” he said.<br/>
Ren sort of smiled. “I did,” he said, “but I missed you before that. I missed you about an hour after I left.”<br/>
“And who’s fault is that?” Hux said. It was a rhetorical question, but Ren answered anyways.<br/>
“Mine,” he said. “And I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?” He stared into Hux’s eyes with his big, pleading brown ones.<br/>
Hux sighed, at a loss. “You’re lucky I’m too tired to argue,” he said.<br/>
“I know,” Ren said.<br/>
Hux thought that that was going to be the end of their interaction and turned to leave the bathroom, but Ren moved closer and grabbed Hux’s arm, pulling him back. Hux gently collided into Ren’s chest and was immediately encircled by Ren’s arms. He looked up into Ren’s face, his heart aching in his chest. He was too tired to fight such a powerful temptation, and Ren could see that; he was taking advantage of Hux’s momentary weakness. Ren leaned his head down and Hux closed his eyes.<br/>
Their kiss wasn’t heated. There was no biting or tips of the tongue. There was only warmth and the feel of their lips connecting. It was a kiss of purpose, not passion.<br/>
When Ren released Hux’s mouth, he rested his head on Hux’s shoulder, breathing deep and slow. “I don’t think I have the energy to fuck you tonight,” he said.<br/>
Hux tentatively brought his hands up and ran his fingers through Ren’s hair, smoothing it down the back of his head. “Let’s just go to bed,” he said.<br/>
Ren followed Hux into the bedroom. He watched as Hux pulled the comforter to his bed back and fluffed the pillows. When Hux had everything arranged the way he wanted it, he took Ren’s hand and brought him over. They slipped under the covers together. Hux turned away and Ren spooned him from behind, engulfing him in a delicious warmth. Hux was almost asleep in a matter of seconds, lulled almost magically by the presence behind him. He was brought back only once by Ren’s quiet voice in the dark.<br/>
“You could come with me next time.”</p>
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